Hostage
by UchihaSakura-always
Summary: Itachi takes Sakura hostage, thinking she'd be perfect to trade for Naruto. He didn't expect a smart mouth brat that's slowly losing her sanity. There are bits of humor, but it's more depressing than anything. ItaSaku [sequel out]
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Fanfic, so there will probably be a few mistakes. Flames are welcome I love getting them. But please, if you're going to flame me, leave a signed review, don't be cowards.**

**IxS IxS IxS  
**

"See you tomorrow, Tsuande-shishou," a young medic called as she left the hospital. Sakura walked down the street from the hospital, feeling exhausted. She hadn't slept properly in weeks, and was tempted to just refuse to go to work the next day and simply sleep until she had so much rest, she felt she was in her genin days. Though she knew when her damn alarm clock rang the next morning she would get out of bed and make her way back to the dreaded building.

Sasuke had come back, and although he was on probation, he was welcomed back with open arms, that is, by most people, most people not including his former team. Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi were both excited and furious at his return. Upon arrival Sakura walked up and bitch slapped him, while Naruto yelled at him for the hell he had put them through. After a meeting with Tsuande, they went out to ramen, Naruto's treat.

Sakura had dropped the once ever-present title to his name and he if he cared he didn't show it. He also didn't seem to notice that she stopped following him around, and seemed more interested in training then she did him. It was sad really, she had decided to train so she could be strong when he returned, now she was stronger, he didn't care, and she wasn't bothered that he didn't notice her.

Her feet dragged on the well-traveled ground as she made her way back to her apartment. Why she had decided to move farther away from the hospital she would never understand. She knew she wanted— no needed—to get out of the house she shared with her mother, but she should have paid more attention to the location of her new living quarters. She was supposed to be the smartest girl her age, yet at times she didn't live up to the title. She was so busy cursing herself for her stupid choice of a living place that she didn't notice the dark aura around the street she was currently turning on.

She continued her way, never noticing the two sets of eyes following her every move, waiting, waiting for the chance to set their plan in motion.

"Why her?" asked a voice to his partner.

"She trains under Tsuande-hime, she must have some skills," a second voice answered.

"I think there's more to it than that," the first voice replied. "Something to do with your brother."

"Be quiet, she's coming this way," the second snapped at his partner.

"If she's got Tsuande's strength, do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Look at her, she's exhausted. She doesn't have much strength left." With that the man jumped down in front of the startled pink haired maiden.

"You're… you're…" Sakura stuttered, fear evident in her eyes. "_Uchiha Itachi_."

"And you're Haruno Sakura," Itachi replied coldly.

"How do you know my name," Sakura asked, too shocked at seeing the S-class criminal to think clearly and try to escape, or at the very least get someone's attention so they would know what was happening.

"I have my ways. Now, you're going to be going on a little trip with us," and with that he knocked the young woman out.

**IxS IxS IxS**

"W-W-Where a-a-am I?" Sakura stuttered, finally waking up. She looked at her surroundings; she was in a strange room, with no windows and a single door, without a handle on the inside. She was lying on a bed, shivering slightly at the cold atmosphere of the place. "W-What's g-g-going on?"

"Drink this," a voice commanded, shoving a glass of water in her face.

"Than—" she started to say, but stopped when she noticed who was handing her the liquid. "What's wrong with it?" she demanded, now completely awake.

"In a minute it's going to be forced down your throat if you don't drink it," Itachi said dangerously. "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so already," he added as an afterthought.

"Well you're strait to the point," Sakura muttered, hesitantly taking the drink. "Why did you kidnap me anyway?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you."

"Someone's parents didn't teach them manners… I wonder why that is… Oh, I remember now! You murdered them."

"I don't think you have the right to be speaking to me like that," Itachi said, glaring intensely at the sarcastic annoyance in front of him.

"I'm _so _sorry Uchiha-sama," Sakura said, standing up and bowing as low as she could, before sitting back down on the hard bed she had been previously resting upon. "I guess that horrible Sasuke-kun taught me to hate you. Damn him, he's always complaining… what was he complaining about again… oh yeah YOU KILLING HIS FAMILY!"

"You're annoying."

"I've been told."

The two glared at each other, glowing red and livid emerald mixing in with the other. They sat like that, neither one blinking or saying anything for a while. Surprisingly enough, it was the eldest Uchiha that broke the suffocating silence.

"Maybe I should just kill you, there were plenty of strong kounichi in that village, mostly around your age."

"So why did you take me?" Sakura shot back.

"You caught my attention," Itachi said, causing Sakura to blush involuntary.

"Why is that?"

"You need your rest. Go back to sleep."

"Whatever you say Uchiha-sama," Sakura said, sarcasm dripping from her words.

"Call me that again, and I'll kill you."

"Ok, Itachi-san," she said glaring daggers at him. He almost sighed, he'd expected her to be hostile, but not mouthy.

"Good night, Sakura," Itachi whispered as the petal haired angel fell asleep. He grabbed a blanket and placed it over her small frame before walking over to the door and knocking four times. It slid open reviling a bored looking Kisame.

"What's the plan?"

"We'll stay here for a few days, let her regain her strength before we begin traveling again. Once we've gotten at least two days away from the village, we'll send word, saying that we'll trade the medic for the Kyuubi container."

"What makes you sure they'll agree?"

"She is Tsunade's apprentice, and Tsuande doesn't teach just anyone. They'll agree, not only is she favored by the Hokage, but by Kakashi, the Kyuubi, and my foolish little brother. We should get some sleep, we can't stay here to long."

"Will you be sleeping in there to make sure she doesn't escape," Kisame asked.

"It'll be pointless otherwise," Itachi explained. "If we leave her in there by herself she could use her strength to break out, and if you drain her chakra, then we'll just waste our time waiting for her to recover."

"I'll open the door at seven," Kisame said, walking away to his own room. Itachi walked back into room, and saw his hostage curled up in the blankets, still shivering with cold. He silently thanked himself for not shutting the door, and walked out of the room, grabbing a few covers.

He came back in, set the bedspread on her, before attempting to walk to the other side of the room where his bed was located. Something stopped him. A small, delicate arm had managed to wrap itself around Itachi's hand, preventing him from moving.

_What am I? _He thought to himself. _A teddy bear? Do I look like I want to be touched? _He attempted to free his hand, but couldn't. _Damn strength, who knew she could be this strong while she was asleep._

"Don't… leave… me," Sakura muttered in her sleep. "Don't… want to be… alone… anymore."

Itachi sighed, of all of the hostages he could have taken; he had to choose the one with the abandonment issues and super strength. "You win this round," he muttered as he lay down on the bed next to her, making sure to put as much distance between the two of them as possible.

**I know it's short, but it was just sort an introduction. I should have the next update up soon, but I'm not sure when. **

**Before I go, I'd like to clear some things up, this story is rated T for LANGUAGE not content. Sakura has had abandonment problems since Sasuke and Naruto both left her to get stronger. She was asleep, and was having a dream about them, so she grabbed onto the closest thing that was there, which happened to be Itachi. They slept like that. That's all. S-L-E-P-T. **

**Please review!**

**UchihaSakura-always**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's chapter two! Thank you to everyone who reviewed for the last chapter.**

Sakura woke up the next morning after hearing voices near her bed. She couldn't understand why anyone would be talking at this hour in her room. She hadn't heard her alarm clock go off, so there should be no reason for someone to be anywhere near her. She rolled over and attempted to grab her large pink blanket that she always slept with, only to find it wasn't there.

She opened her eyes and realized where she was. Memory after memory came back to her and she nearly screamed when she finally accepted the fact that the past events weren't really a dream.

"I see your awake," Itachi said, noticing Sakura stirring on the bed.

"I see you weren't a hallucination of my overly exhausted mind," Sakura muttered. "What a shame…"

"I could drain her chakra, and we wouldn't have to listen to her anymore," Kisame suggested.

"No," Itachi said. "Then we'd have to carry her back to headquarters, and I don't want to."

"Why did you take me?" Sakura asked.

"Because you're a key part in our plan," Itachi said annoyance in his voice. "Now be a good hostage and stop talking."

"If I'm a hostage, why would I listen to the people who were making my life a living hell? Wouldn't I want to annoy you until you finally wanted to get rid of me, and send me back to Konoha?"

"If we were going to let you go, we'd kill you," Kisame assured her.

"Then your plan thing would be ruined," Sakura pointed out. "So really, you can't kill me, so I'll just be as 'annoying' as the Uchihas say I am."

"We can get new hostages," Itachi said. "There isn't anything special about you, you just looked tired so we didn't think you'd put up much of a fight."

"Wow," Sakura said in mock awe. "So you can talk."

"I really wish you couldn't."

"How long do we have to keep her here?" asked Kisame. "Eventually she's going to want food or something."

Itachi didn't answer, but grabbed a piece of fruit and walked into the room where the pink haired kunoichi was currently locked in, ignoring his teammates grumbles about how he was going to eat that before walking out of the room.

"I still don't see why you need me," huffed Sakura, refusing to take the piece of food being offered to her.

"We need the Kyuubi container, you're close to him, you're the Hokage's apprentice, and you're well liked in that pitiful little village, therefore you make the perfect hostage." Explained Itachi for what seemed like the millionth time.

"Naruto is close to everyone, I'm only Tsuande-shishou's apprentice because I'm a good medic, and not a whole lot of people in that _terrific _village like me."

"I'm not going back there, so quit complaining," said Itachi in a final way.

"I'm not going to quit complaining, and there's nothing you can do it."

"I don't think you're in any position to argue with me kounichi," said Itachi, his sharingan switching to its highest level to signify the seriousness of the situation. Sakura met his gaze with the utmost loathing she could fill in her dull green eyes. The same eyes that had once sparkled with life, that had been so carefree, so childlike, now were a dull green from the years full of hardships.

Red and green, both looking lethal at the moment. The sharingan was a scary sight in itself, and anyone who knew of the medic's temper would argue that it was just as terrifying to have her glare at you in that way.

"You could have kidnapped Ino-pig," muttered Sakura, not dropping her hate filled gaze. "_Her _teammates would come and save her without thinking twice, they'd be willing to save her. Mine don't care. They're to busy trying to get the Hyuuga girl to notice them."

"Ino-pig?" asked Itachi, if he was capable of any form of amusement, it would have shown on his face, but alas, neither his voice nor face showed any sign of any emotion.

"My best friend, and rival," said Sakura sadly. "Not that you would know what it's like having a friend, you killed everyone that was close to you," her anger was back.

"I had a friend," Itachi defended himself, not that he felt he needed to against this pink haired annoyance.

"Did his blood ever stain your weapons?" asked Sakura, even though she was already positive of the answer.

"Friendship makes you weak," was his answer.

"Mine made me stronger," Sakura briefly wondered why she was having this argument with her kidnapper. "If it wasn't for Ino I wouldn't have ever gotten where I am today. I would still be the crying girl who was always picked on because of her overly large forehead."

"Your hair color is pink, but they picked on you because of your forehead size?" asked Itachi skeptically.

"Yes."

"That makes no sense."

"What's wrong with having pink hair?" If it was at all possible even more hatred and anger filled the eyes of the young woman. A small sparkle was now evident in them. Not the old one, filled with joy and happiness that was usually present in that of a young child, no, this was far from it. This was a flame. This spark was the only life that could be seen in those once beautiful jade eyes, but it was not a happy one. It was a burning passion, one to get even with the thing in front of her. She was angry, and that anger was now what was going to keep her going.

Itachi hadn't responded to her question, nor did he seem to notice it. He wasn't the type who cared if he hurt other people's feelings. He killed his entire clan simply to test his own power. What difference did it make to him if some pint-sized brat was upset that he was insulting her? He simply stared at her. It was a cold indifferent stare, and the only reason he was still looking at her at all was because he wasn't one to lose a challenge, and that's what their glaring was.

While Itachi only glared for the sake of not losing, Sakura took this opportunity to look at his face. He did look a lot like Sasuke, but much more mature. The age lines were the biggest difference. Sakura hated his face. It filled her with memories of heartbreak and misery. But what made her the most sickened was the fact that she knew she could never fully hate it. It was true, he did look like his younger sibling. How could you possibly hate someone who reminded you so much of the one person you swore your undying love to? But this wasn't Sasuke. This was the reason why he was so cold to everyone.

This man had murdered his parents and all of his other family without a second thought. The fact that she was still alive slightly surprised Sakura, but at the same time didn't. She had heard the stories of the Uchiha clan massacre, and she had seen Kakashi after his fight with him. He was injured, but alive. The same for Asuma and Kurenai. He could easily have killed all three of them, but he didn't. Sakura hadn't given this a second thought when she first heard the news, she simply thought they'd gotten off easy and was glad her sensei hadn't been killed, but now the situation provoked her curiosity.

"You didn't kill Kakashi-sensei," she spoke after awhile.

"If I killed Kakashi-san I would have drawn unwanted attention to myself."

"That's the only reason?"

"You ask too many questions," Itachi responded, never breaking eye contact.

"I can't help it. Whenever your mentioned in the village it's only about the Uchiha Clan Massacre. They talk about how you're a cold-blooded murderer that only has killing on the mind. But you could have taken Kakashi-sensei's life, and you easily could have killed me by now…."

"Don't worry," said Itachi, not a hint of emotion showing on his handsome face. "I still plan on killing you, just not yet."

"You're so reassuring," muttered Sakura.

"We're leaving here tomorrow," Itachi informed his prisoner. "You should rest, you're low on chakra, and we're not going to carry you."

**IxS IxS IxS**

**I know its short, but I'm not good at beginning stories, I already have a middle-end part of the story thought up, its just getting there that's the problem. Next update should be longer, but I'm not promising anything. Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Sakura sat on the bed that she'd been provided. Half of her felt she should be thankful that they gave her a bed at all (even if this one was uncomfortable and stank of blood), instead of making her sleep on the floor. But she didn't feel like being optimistic so instead she went on hating the bed.

She missed her own bed, but it was more than just the bed that she missed. She wanted to be in her bed, her beautifully lumpy bed in her room, painted off-white with cherry blossoms decorating the walls. The room located in her house where she had spent most of her childhood in, where she was hiding from the cruel kids who loved to pick on her. The house that was on the street where she took her first steps, on the road located in the town where she was born and raised. The same town where she first met her team, the team that was now the most well known, even if it wasn't for a a good reason. The team where one of the members had abandoned the city so he could work for a snake that wasn't worth anything.

It seemed strange that no matter what the situation was at the moment, she missed her bed. The bed. That's what she was thinking about. Was there something wrong with her? She was being held captive by an S-class criminal who would more than likely kill her just like he did his entire family. She should be in fear for her life; instead she was worrying about a bed. Why should she be worrying about such a minimal inconvenience? She should be worrying about her life, yet she couldn't. What did that say about her? That she was fearless? Certainly not. She herself would admit that she was a coward. Maybe she felt safer than she should. She was, after all, in mortal danger from being slaughtered by a weasel and a shark, so why was she worrying about something such as a bed that wasn't lumpy and worn as hers was.

Her wondering was cut short as Itachi walked in the room. His presence was always alarming, even if by now Sakura was used to him coming in and out of that dreaded door as he pleased. It wasn't his presence per say that frightened her, it was the way he entered, as if he was simply going into his parents room in the morning because he had a nightmare. Maybe about someone killing his family. _Now why would someone have a dream like that?_ she wondered cynically.

How could someone be so calm at all times? Sakura had been around Kakashi and Sasuke long enough to know that it was possible to go days without saying a word, and they were even capable of always seeming to be calm, but even they had moments when they showed some sort of emotion, but Itachi never seemed to. It was interesting to say the least, and sort of creepy. How could anyone rid themselves of their emotions? He had to feel something at some time, wouldn't he? It just wasn't human to not have any sort of feeling whatsoever. Then again, Sakura doubted that it was human to go on a killing spree and murder your entire family except your younger brother, simply to make his life a living hell.

There were so many things about Itachi she didn't understand, but did she want to understand them? He was like a puzzle, one begging to be solved, but in order to do that she would have to get to know him. If it wasn't for him, Sasuke could have had a normal life, and he might be with her right now, did she really want to get to know the man that had prevented this from happening? There was clearly something wrong with her brain at the moment. She shouldn't be thinking such things. She should be planning her escape, ways to get out of the situation she was currently stuck in, and instead her thought strayed to her lost bed and her former crush. She must have been hit on the head with something.

"We're leaving," announced Itachi, breaking the silence that was so customary between the two of them. What could you say to someone you knew you were supposed to loath with your entire being, yet kept wondering what it would be like if they were living in an alternate universe.

"Where?" Sakura had lost the flame of defiance that had burned so deeply in her when she first arrived, and now found things much easier if she'd just go along with what he said, not that she would make it easy on him.

"It doesn't matter. We're leaving, now."

Sakura sighed; she clearly wasn't going to get any information out of him. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, for him to suddenly tell her his whole life story perhaps? She allowed Itachi to bind her hands and arms with chakra strings, and prepared herself for their journey without a word. Itachi liked silence, and she had nothing to say to him. They seemed to have a basic understanding of each other, she wouldn't scream at him about how she wished he would rot in the depths of hell, and he wouldn't use his sharingan on her. It worked out for the both of them.

True that was the only understanding they had of each other, but it was a start. Not that either wanted there to be anything to start or finish. He wanted to use her as a tool get her best friend and teammate, and she wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. Their contact with the other was minimal, yet Sakura couldn't help but feel as though she knew something about this man.

"You used to walk Sasuke-kun to school," she dared to speak. She doubted he would respond, and knew that it was a highly dangerous idea to speak of a murder's past, but she had to say it. She hadn't added the 'kun' to Sasuke's name since she had seen him return to the village, but now seemed the right time to say it.

"I did," his voice was void of any emotion, as usual really. She wasn't sure if his statement was in fact statement or a question. His tone was unreadable, though it always seemed to be. Did he remember that, or did he block out all memories of his past? There were so many things that she didn't understand about the eldest Uchiha, and she doubted she would ever learn even a millionth of them.

"I saw you sometimes," she admitted. Not knowing where she was going with this, but their current silent walk to the outside of the building they were in seemed to suffocate her, and she had to say something or she'd fear it would consume her. "Sasuke-kun always seemed happier on the days you took him. Then one day, he stopped being happy at all."

"Why are you telling me this?" his voice held no anger or hostility, and Sakura assumed he was more curious at her confession than disgust for the mention of his brother.

"I've been silent for so long I'm afraid I'm losing my voice," she said, a slight sarcastic tint to them. "And if I lose that, I might end up with a little pony-tail, red eyes, and never have any emotion whatsoever… I might even kill my parents…."

"You're not amusing kounichi," Itachi informed her.

"My name isn't kounichi," she shot back. If he was going to insult her, he could at least use her name. She didn't go around calling him shinobi… then again, that might have been better than calling him 'Itachi-sama' when her words were dripping with sarcasm.

"When you deserve a name, I'll call you by it."

"Wait a minute," Sakura made sure her voice didn't give away the pain she was currently feeling. She didn't deserve a name? Was she really that horrible that he didn't even think she was worthy enough to be called Sakura? "I'm not deserving of a name, but you can kill your whole family, and you still demand to be called by your name?"

"Yes."

"You're not making any sense at all," she was quickly becoming confused. Where was the logic in this man's reasoning? She had done nothing that put a price on her head, yet he seemed to think she was the villain.

"I'm not as annoying as you are," was his simple explanation.

Sakura felt the anger boiling inside her. This was too much. Kidnap, cruelty, put downs, all things she could live through, but she had sworn to herself never to let an Uchiha call her annoying again. "Do you and Sasuke get together and compare notes on how to torture people?" she muttered, not fully realizing she'd spoken out loud.

This seemed to hit a nerve in Itachi. He turned his head ever so slightly, barely enough for Sakura to notice. "If my foolish little brother and I ever meet again, one of us will not survive." This wasn't a statement. It was a vow.

Sakura wasn't stupid; in fact, she was noted for her intelligence. Calling her stupid would be a flat out lie, and she knew it. Yet here was something she couldn't understand. She knew Sasuke had good reason to hate Itachi, he killed their entire clan. Yet, how was it possible to truly hate your own flesh and blood enough to vow to kill them the next time they met?

She hadn't heard much about the clan, other than its downfall. A thought occurred to her, not that this was a surprise, her brain was always working in overtime, but she realized how little on the subject she knew. She didn't know Itachi's side of the argument, not that there was much of an argument to be had. She was positive that he wouldn't deny killing his family, but why? Was his life so hard that he couldn't take it anymore and looked for an escape? Was he a raving lunatic who had one day snapped? She studied him as he walked down the narrow corridor, and she came to a conclusion; Uchiha Itachi was not crazy. Nor did she believe that he was entirely sane, but he wasn't foolish. He was, in fact, a genius. The true heir to the Sharingan as her sensei had said. Of course, that was a long time ago.

She again found herself comparing him to a puzzle, but one that was missing many pieces. He'd murdered his family, and didn't seem to show much remorse, he didn't seem to have any emotions whatsoever, and would probably end up killing her best friend and his younger brother. Yet, she couldn't seem to bring herself to think that he needed to be hated. He'd managed to get quite a reputation, but was he really as bad as everyone claimed he was? She knew so little about him, and doubted that she would ever learn much more than what information she already had on him.

After what seemed like forever they made it out of the maze like complex. Sakura blinked several times once she made it outside. It was so bright out here it surprised her. She was used to being locked up in her dark little room with no windows. After all, if they had given her a window she could have easily broke it.

"We will not stop until long after nightfall," said Itachi. Without another word he leapt into the treetops and they began their journey to god knows where.


	4. Chapter 4

**A big thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

Itachi finally stopped tree hopping and landed in a small clearing, much to Sakura's relief. He immediately started a small fire, simply for the sake of cooking a small meal of a few small fish, before promptly putting it out. He wasn't going to take chances. If someone spotted a fire, they would come to investigate, and that would possibly slow him down. He glanced over at his pink haired captive, silently nibbling on her pitiful dinner. If anyone else would have seen her, they would have felt sorry for her, but he was Uchiha Itachi, he didn't show compassion.

"Hurry up and eat. You need to get some sleep, we're leaving early tomorrow."

"Where's Kisame?" her question was unexpected to say the least. He didn't think she would care that a six-foot shark man was currently not with them.

"He left a few hours before us, that way if someone planned on attacking us, he'd be able to send a signal."

"What kind of signal?" he often missed the moments when she was silent.

"It's no concern of yours."

"If someone's going to attack me, I think it would be a concern of mine."

"Why would they attack you?" he couldn't care less, but her stupid questions were hitting a nerve.

"I don't know. I didn't think anyone would kidnap me on my way home from work, yet here I am."

"Hn," he grunted in response, causing his companion to give a humorless laugh and a sad smile.

"Sasuke did the same thing. Whenever he couldn't think of a response, or didn't feel like commenting. I guess it runs in the family."

"He's still alive," Sakura gave him a confused look. "You said he _did _the same thing. You're using past tense, which would either mean he died, you lost contact, or something happened so you would no longer accept him."

"He took my heart. Deceived me right from the start. He said all he wanted was to destroy you and then repopulate his clan… I thought he was so cool, but then I realized something. It was all just a lie. There were little things that he did, that made me believe he actually felt something for me. There were few, and they rarely occurred, but they were there. When Gaara attacked me, he caught me when I fell, and told that dog not to let anything happen to me. When his curse mark activated during the Chuunin exams, it stopped when I hugged him… I thought that meant he was in better control when I was around. I was wrong."

Itachi noticed something very peculiar during her long speech. Not only was that the most she had ever at one time while he was present, but she wasn't talking to him. Everything she said did clarify what she meant by using the wrong tense, but it wasn't directed at him. Her eyes were glazed over, and she was staring at the pit where the fire was not that long ago. She hadn't blinked, she hadn't moved, and she hadn't stopped looking at that one spot. _She's in some sort of trance, _Itachi thought to himself.

Sakura continued, whether or not she was aware that she was confessing something very personal to Itachi (or even speaking at all) was a complete mystery. "I should have listened to my friends… I was blinded by faith; I couldn't hear all the warnings…"

Itachi concluded that she definitely had no idea that she was, in fact, speaking. Her thoughts were getting vaguer the more she spoke. Yet she couldn't stop speaking, and he didn't stop listening. "Once you're hooked on him… there's no escape, no mercy, no remorse…. He broke a silent promise, and made me realize… it was all just a lie…. He wanted power, and powerful offspring. He didn't need me. The world may have failed him, doesn't give him reason why… could have chosen a different path in life…. He needed strong kids, so he needed a stronger bloodline… mixing Byakugan and Sharingan… make people so powerful…. It was all just a lie…" and with that the pink haired beauty fell asleep, silent tears still streaming down her face.

Itachi stared at her. This girl was losing her sanity, and because of his foolish little brother? What had happened since he left? Was it really possible that he had done so many that Sakura's mind was now fading away?

So many questions, and yet no answers. Her words played over in his mind, at the beginning she seemed just to be relaying painful memories, hence her odd stillness, but then… what had happened? She was no longer making complete sense. He'd lied to her? From the sounds of it there was never any promise made, then again he wasn't getting much of the story. _Mixing Byakugan and Sharingan. _What was that supposed to mean? Byakugan was limited to the Hyuuga clan, did Sasuke unite clans with them? In order to do that he'd have to… it was starting to make a little bit of sense.

_He broke a silent promise. _Maybe she had engraved it into her mind that he would eventually be with her; _it was all just a lie. _She'd repeated that, over and over again. Itachi assumed that meant that she was wrong, very wrong indeed.

Trauma. That word came to mind. There was no reason a person would go into a state like that with little prompting unless they had been through a lot of trauma already. What had his brother done to her?

He had heard that Sasuke had gone to work for Orochimaru, to kill him of course. They must have had seen some signs that would prepare them for his departure. Then again, _I was blinded by faith, I couldn't hear all the warnings. _She didn't want to believe it.

_Foolish little brother, how could you have been so stupid? _There was a strange thought. He didn't feel sorry for this girl, why should he care… right?

He sighed and laid down, falling into a light, and very alert sleep.

**IxS IxS IxS**

Itachi awoke and found Sakura still asleep. He started a fire and began cooking a small breakfast, thinking the smell would wake her up if the dumb ass birds that were circling their camp didn't. Whichever it mattered little, for she did awake before he had to. She silently accepted the meal passed to her, still looking half-asleep.

"The ground around my head was wet," she said after she had fully awoken. "I don't drool, why was it wet?"

So she didn't realize what she had said. "You were crying," Itachi responded bluntly.

"I was… that's strange… I don't remember…. Well, being with you would send a person to tears, I wonder how Kisame puts up with it… then again, he's just as bad…"

"You were crying while you were babbling on about my foolish little brother," if she was going to insult him, he'd throw the facts back at her.

"I don't babble."

"I beg to differ," he muttered.

"I can't wait until I get back to Konoha! I can tell everyone that _the _Uchiha Itachi was begging."

"Whoever said you were going back?" she was getting annoying, and it wasn't even 10:00 yet.

"I'm a hostage, which means you'll trade me for Naruto."

"I believe you said yourself, you're nothing special, they won't comply." That shut her up.

Itachi extinguished the fire, before standing and beginning to continue their journey.

"Where are we going?" All good things come to an end he supposed.

"Akatsuki head quarters."

**IxS IxS IxS**

**Wow, quick update… ok, maybe not, but its quick by my standards. I know its short, but I had the idea, before getting hit smack in the face with writer's block… DAMN YOU WRITER'S BLOCK!**

**Ok… over dramatic… lots of sadness in this chapter, but I just got dumped, so I wasn't in the mood for writing anything other than that. And to show my uncreativeness, a lot of Sakura's little speech was song lyrics… although, I don't think many people would have noticed if I didn't say this.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

**UchihaSakura-always**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello my dear readers. Want some candy? How about a pie? Maybe some brownies? And no, I'm not trying to butter you up so that you won't be mad at me for the late update… or maybe I am…. Anyway, I have a reason. My older brother has been in the hospital because of heart problems, and they don't have computers there, so I couldn't update. Right now I'm at the library across the street with a floppy disk, so chances are I won't be able to update very quickly until he's better.**

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"Where am I?" Sakura muttered, still half asleep.

"Atasuki headquarters," someone answered.

Sakura knew that voice. Where did she know that voice? It wasn't someone from Konoha, and wasn't the emotionless voice of Itachi. Yet, she knew it… where did she know it? "Kisame?" she asked uncertainly.

"She seems to be coming to her senses… yeah." That voice she didn't know. She bolted up, and looked around to see where she was, and who was with her. Her room was small, and very similar to the one that she had left, and her company was made up of a six-foot shark man and a blond that reminded her of Ino. He had his long hair up in a ponytail, with half of his face covered with his bangs.

"Where's Itachi?" she was taken aback by her question. Why should she care where the eldest Uchiha was? It was no concern of hers, so why would she ask where he was? Apparently her inquiry also surprised the people around her.

"I'm not sure where he is," Kisame answered her. "Deidra," he addressed the blond beside him. "Go find him and tell him she's awake."

Kisame studied the pink haired medic in front of him. It was expected for a person to wonder where they were when they woke up in a new place, but to ask for Itachi? He himself didn't usually want to know.

"Something somewhat familiar," Sakura said, answering his unasked question. "Since I've been abducted I've always woke up with him watching- or rather guarding- me. I guess I was just curious as to why he wasn't this time."

"That makes no sense."

Sakura laughed, "I guess it is weird, wondering why a certain captor isn't there… then again, I've always liked consistency… you don't care, so I'll stop talking."

"What makes him so special?" a voice from the doorway asked. "I don't care about what you say, but you still won't shut up."

"Itachi-kun! It's so wonderful to see you too! How have you been?" said Sakura in a false cheery voice.

"I don't think she likes you very much…" said Kisame, more to himself than anything.

Sakura gave him a look that clearly said 'well duh!'

"Kisame, Sasori wanted to speak with you." Kisame nodded and walked out of the room. "And I need to tell you the rules."

"If one of them is 'bow down to Itachi' you can forget about it, ass hole."

"You are not allowed to leave the room unless Kisame or I let you out, you are not to disturb the other Atasuki members, and if you break these rules, you probably won't survive."

"You're such a lovely bunch, aren't you. Do you trade cookie recipes?"

"Only on Mondays," he replied before walking out of Sakura's living quarters and locking the door.

"I hope that was sarcasm… I don't think they'd make very good desserts…."

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"What does she look like?" Sasori asked.

"Pink hair, green eyes, underweight," Kisame summarized. "Sarcastic as hell."

"How is she not dead yet? Itachi doesn't tolerate much."

"She is vital for our plan," said Itachi as he walked into the room, not even sparing a glance at the person he was talking to.

"I've got a new plan," Sasori whispered when he was sure Itachi couldn't hear him. "Get him laid so he's not such a bastard." Kisame didn't respond.

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"It's about time! I'm starving in here. What's wrong with it?"

"If you were starving, you wouldn't care."

"You've got an answer for everything, don't you." Sakura said, beginning to eat the meal that was brought to her.

"Hn."

"Stop doing that."

If Itachi showed emotion, surprised would be on his face right now, "You don't have authority to be giving orders."

"I don't care. I can't get out of this room, I have nothing to do all day, there's nothing in here for me to train or entertain myself with… and you never come to visit," she added as an after though.

"You're annoying."

Sakura put her hands in a seal, "Kai!" She looked around the room, her eyes resting on Itachi last before giving _him _a strange look. "It didn't work…"

"What are you doing?"

"I could have sworn you were Sasuke using a genjutsu…."

Itachi noticed something. Sakura was very sardonic, at least towards him. Not only did that mean she wasn't easily intimidated, but it seemed to him _couldn't _be scared of him because she wasn't entirely joking a minute ago. Any normal person would be terrified of Uchiha Itachi, but she wasn't. _She sees too much of my foolish brother in me to be completely scared, _he thought. "You're not as smart as everyone thinks you are."

"Excuse me?" Sakura looked as though someone had slapped her face. She was the smartest kounichi in all of Konoha. Her skills rivaled her sensei's and she would surpass her in the not too distant future. No one had doubted her intelligence since she became friends with Ino when she was still a child.

"What is my name," asked Itachi calmly. This would be an interesting experiment.

"Uchiha Itachi," she answered uncertainly. Her simple answer confirmed his suspicion. He had asked for his name, a simple question and one that was very easily answered. Everyone in the ninja world knew his name, and anyone could have told him that very answer, but Sakura wasn't just anyone.

If someone was comfortable with insulting him without the fear of being killed, they would also be ok with calling him by his first name. She could have simply said 'Itachi' and there wouldn't have been a problem, but she added the surname. Uchiha. The name of the clan which he himself had destroyed at the young age of thirteen. She still thought of him, as a part of that lost clan, most people would say that Sasuke was the only Uchiha left, in fact Itachi himself believed that. By saying that one simple name, she had proved to him that she wasn't as sane as everyone thought she was. She was so emotionally distraught that it had caused some form of mental damage. A small part of her wanted him to except her because she was still subconsciously longing for the love of Uchiha Sasuke.

"That was a really weird question. How could you forget your own name? And you said I wasn't smart…." His theory would have to rest for now, she was back to her normal self.

"I could kill you for that," Itachi reminded her.

Sakura laughed in return, "I've been thinking about that. In fact, that's all I can do all day because there isn't anything to do here besides think. In my pondering, I've discovered something, you _can _kill me, but you _won't._ You said yourself you didn't want to get a new hostage, and I was the only one who's close to Naruto _and _Tsunade-shishou so I made the ideal target. If you kill me, you have nothing. How's that for smart?"

_An almost obsessive need to prove herself, _Itachi noted. "I never said you were stupid, I just said people were mistaken of how smart you were."

"Is that some sort of apology, or are you babbling?" Itachi didn't answer. "I think that means that you were apologizing, which also means that you accept defeat and think that I am smarter than you give me credit for."

_There's no almost about it._ There was something strange that had happened, while Itachi knew that Sakura was as wrong as possible, and he assumed she knew the same, her eyes (if only for a moment) had a small light in them. They were no longer the dull green eyes that he had known hers to be, they were bright, but only for a split second. Without doing anything he had managed to make her a slight bit happier than she was when she had been taken. He was sure she didn't notice, she took this all as an annoyance almost as much as he did. This was a game, a dangerous one, but a game nonetheless. She didn't sense the danger, and was slowly regaining what he thought to be her old spark.

"How long are you going to keep me here," asked Sakura after finishing her meal, not noticing Itachi's studying eyes.

"That all depends on how long it takes for us to get what we want. The sooner your village complies, the sooner you go home."

"Have you sent your demands yet? I don't want to stay here longer just because you're slow at delivering your mail."

"We're sending the ransom note tomorrow morning."

Sakura yawned and got into her bed, "While your their, stop at my house and grab me some CDs or something, its boring here," she muttered as she fell asleep, not entirely aware that she was speaking out loud.

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Sakura woke the next morning to a pleasant surprise.Well as pleasant as you can get in Atasuki hideout. On the a little tray sat her morning bowl of oatmeal with a banana, and beside the tray was a small boom box with a small CD case on top of it. 'PROPERTY OF HARUNO SAKURA' was written in black on the surface.

She stared at it. She stared at it long and hard. That was in fact her CD case with her music saved in it. She didn't bring it with her, she couldn't have. The only way for it to have managed to get to her current room would be "Itachi…." No, that wasn't possible. There had to be another way. Uchiha Itachi wouldn't go to her house, simply to grab a small container just because she asked for it when she was half asleep already. This wasn't right.

"I see your awake, yeah," it was the blond again.

"I see you're here again," she said, yawning widely.

"I'll go informed Itachi… yeah." And he left the room… at least, Sakura assumed it was a he….

She didn't ponder it. It would be a waste of time, although that's all she had while she was in this dreadful prison they called a room. She could have music now, but that wouldn't keep her occupied very long. She hoped Tsuande and Naruto would save her soon. There! There it was again. That terrible habit that she had sworn to herself never to fall into again. She was strong. She didn't want to have to be saved. She wanted to get out of here by herself, and she hated the hopeless feeling she had knowing that there was no way she could. She was once again the little girl that needed someone to bail her out of trouble because she couldn't do it herself. Hadn't she sworn to herself never to do that again when she asked Tsuande to train her? Or when she cut off her hair to save her teammates and Lee when she was twelve? And when Sasuke had returned. She had sworn to herself to make him accept the fact that she was a talented medic nin that could kick his ass if she felt like it. Yet, here she was. Locked in a room that she couldn't get out of, and wishing that someone would come and save her.

It just wasn't fair. She had trained until her chakra was so low she had to be hospitalized, she had skipped countless dinner invitations with Ino so she could beat the crap out of training dummies, and she had taken on extra shifts at the hospital so that she would always be doing something. And here she was. Back at the beginning, needing to be saved from danger. She noted that she was up against Atasuki, and they weren't easily defeated, but hadn't she proved that she could take care of herself? Her thoughts were cut short as someone entered the room.

"Hurry up and eat so I can take your tray."

"What kind of greeting is that," she said, forgetting his supposed act of kindness so that she could have some entertainment in mocking his authority over her. "No, 'Good morning Sakura, how did you sleep?' I thought we were past all this…."

"What would give you an idea like that?" he asked, knowing full well that she had no reason.

"Uchiha Itachi!" she screamed, hoping that someone would hear her, just so she could embarrass him… if possible. "We shared a passionate night together, and now your going to deny everything and tell me that," she paused for dramatic effect, "you're in love with Kisame-san!"

"I really should kill you for that," said Itachi, though his face was void of any emotion whatsoever.

"You'd be breaking orders, I'm sure."

"You don't know what my orders are, now eat." Sakura complied with his order, even though half of her was screaming to throw the food across the room just so she could defy him, but the half that was hungry won out.

"Who cooks this?" asked Sakura once she was finished.

"I don't."

"That wasn't my question… whoever it is really needs to open a cookbook everyone once in awhile. This stuff lacks flavor."

"Not my problem."

Sakura sighed, this conversation was going nowhere. Not that she'd expected anything different, how good of a chat can you have with the Sharingan heir. Said heir stood up and grabbed the pink-haired medic's tray, before walking to the door. "Thank you," he heard Sakura say.

"For what?"

"I was babbling, but you were still listening. You brought me the CDs and a boom box. That's more than anyone else would have done, I'm sure."

He nodded before walking out of the room, feeling content. That is, until he saw his fellow Atasuki members, all giving him strange looks because of his 'feelings' towards the shark man.

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**Longest chapter I've ever written! Mostly because if I'm not typing the demon librarian would kick me off the computer. I told her I was typing a paper for school.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm home now!! My brother's doing fine, he's on medication, but he's fine. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! **

**Before we start the chapter, I'd like a moment of silence for the dear departed +++++-sensei whose name I will not speak because 1) it makes me depressed 2) some people aren't up-to-date with the manga and 3) I'd want to write a Team ++ fic instead of updating this one. Now, moment of silence.**

**Disclaimer: if you like fluffy little stories that always have a happy ending with little drama and lots of humor, you've chose the wrong story.**

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"I hope you're happy," said Itachi, sounding angry as he set Sakura's lunch before her.

"I'm with you, why would I be happy?"

"They believe everything you said."

"I'm so sorry," she replied, sounding sincere. "I shouldn't have lied about us."

"I'm more concerned with the Kisame thing."

"Well, you should be. I mean, he looks like he belongs in an aquarium, how can you be attracted to that?"

"I'm not. You made that up."

Sakura sighed deeply, "Itachi-san, its about time you came out of the closet. It's not fair for you to keep denying your feelings for your teammate."

There! He saw it; she had trouble saying the word 'teammate'. She'd close her eyes for a second after saying it, and looked troubled for a moment. It might not have been the word, maybe the phrase. 'Feelings for your teammate' he assumed that would be hard for her to say, since she was so in love with Sasuke. Now that was strange, he'd used the word was. Did he think that she didn't still? She had said that he'd broke her heart, and that he wanted to mix Byakugan and Sharingan, so that would mean that he was with a Hyuuga. That meant he didn't return her affection that doesn't mean that she didn't still love him.

"Who is the Hyuuga my foolish brother is with?"

"He isn't with her. He just follows her. He sucks up to her father. He wants strong children. He doesn't…. What do you think love is Itachi?"

Itachi was taken aback to say the least. No one had ever asked him his opinion on love, mostly because they already knew it. "Love makes you weak." He knew what he was doing was wrong, but this 'experiment' was getting interesting. He was beginning to trigger her… what could he call it? Insanity? That didn't seem like the right word, but it'd have to work for now.

"That's what you told him… that hating someone would let them live. He'd mutter that in his sleep when he was in the hospital."

"It is true. If one loves someone, they begin to weaken. Caring about someone else would make them lose sight of what else is important, their own life."

"You didn't always believe that," Sakura said, her eyes in the same glazed over look they had when she had confessed so much about herself and Sasuke to Itachi. "You would pick him up and drop him off from the academy. He was happier on those days. I remember. I thought you had to have been the greatest older brother in the world if you'd make him that happy. None of the other kids were that excited when their brothers showed up. But I was young. Very young. I didn't know the terrors that you'd put the village through. I just saw you as a good sibling, something I never had."

Again, she was confessing too much about herself to fully realize that she was. Her mind was gone. That much was certain. But how? Was it really possible that a boy could make her lose so much of herself that she would forget she was talking? She was smart, very strong willed, and wasn't easily intimidated. That's how Itachi would describe her, not to anyone else, but in his mind, that's how he thought of her. Something wasn't adding up. If she were smart, why would she allow herself to be put into a position that would harm her this much?

Itachi noticed something else; he was probably the only one who _really _knew her. Maybe one of her closest friends would know the insanity she was fighting off, but it was unlikely. It was ironic really, he had only taken her as bait to get the Kyuubi container, and she had protested loudly against it, now she was confessing her darkest secrets to him. True she wasn't entirely aware she was doing it, but she was nonetheless pouring her soul to him. Normally Itachi would like the feeling of superiority he had over someone. His job was to make people give him information, even if it involved torture. And here was someone doing that somewhat willingly. Why wasn't he feeling accomplished?

No, this feeling was different and new to him. He'd toyed with this girl to see how much she would say. True, he did little to make her talk, but he had still egged her on. Guilt? Was that it? He'd murdered his family and felt nothing, so what made this girl so different? She was obnoxious, sardonic, scrawny, fiery, strong, intelligent, and he had to admit beautiful. No. This wasn't working. He was supposed to be listing _bad _qualities about her, not thinking about her looks. The only things about her looks that supported his experiment were her eyes. The emerald green eyes that we so dull, but looked as if they had once held life in them. They once shined for all they were worth, glistening, sparkling, and happy. That wasn't how they were now, but they had moments. He himself had seen them. It was probably only a fraction of what they once were, but there was life. He had seen them do that only once before, and that was when she had convinced herself that Itachi excepted her intelligence.

"You have an obsessive need to prove yourself and are slightly insane," said Itachi, as casually as if discussing weather, or cookie recipes.

"And you're a deranged murderer that needs to get out more." Sakura wasn't taking his comments seriously. Then again, she had thought that about herself long enough that it seemed obvious to her and she didn't see anything harsh about those words. She did have an obsessive need to prove herself; she'd know that since she had stopped being friends with Ino. By doing that most people would think of her as insane, the two went hand in hand in her opinion. But she didn't comprehend the true meaning of Itachi's words. The two were unrelated when he said them.

She wanted to prove herself. She was also losing any bit of herself that she might have had. There wasn't any reason for her to be, she just was. Itachi respected this, wanting to be strong is something that he had tried to teach his own sibling. True his ways weren't the gentlest of options, but they were effective. Sasuke could never truthfully say that his brother was weak. But there was a line between wanting to prove yourself, and going stark raving mad, causing you to confess everything to a person who you've admitted that you loath entirely. But did she really hate him? This was a question on both their minds.

Sakura had had it drilled into her mind that Itachi was an S-class murdering machine and nothing more. He was highly dangerous and should be avoided. Yet, she was in a room with him right now, and she had been insulting, picking, joking, and some people might have said flirting with him since they had 'met'. So did she really hate him? She didn't like him that was obvious. But how obvious was it really? If they had been two entirely different people, and had met under different circumstances, then what would they call their 'relationship'? If they were simply two teenage kids that had been doing all those things, people would call it flirting, and their friends would tease them that they liked that person. But they were not normal people. No, they were far from it. Sakura was enemies with Uchiha Itachi, right?

Itachi couldn't afford emotions. His job was killing. If you had any form of feeling while doing that kind of work, than you wouldn't be able to handle it, and go insane and possibly kill yourself. Sure he'd had a nightmare or two since the Uchiha massacre, but those had long since stopped. In fact, dreaming of any kind was something he didn't do. What was the point of dreaming? It is simply images and thoughts buried within your subconscious which are displayed when you sleep. That was exactly what it was, so what good was dreaming? He didn't want to know what was going on in his subconscious; it was _sub_ for a reason. But that's only one kind of dream. He would use a different word than 'dream'. Ambition, goals, aspiration were much better terms, and more accurate. But what was his aspiration? He'd killed his family and didn't want to see it again. He was working for an organization under a leader whom he didn't even know the name to. He wanted to be strong, he'd committed a terrible crime just to prove that he was, but how did he know when he was strong enough?

"Naruto," Sakura spoke after awhile, she wasn't entirely sure why she was speaking. She just was, and she figured she had nothing to lose or gain from this, but the silence was becoming deafening and she needed to hear something besides the sickening quiet that was so constant in the Akatsuki lair. "Naruto used to say 'when you're fighting to protect someone, it makes you stronger.' You don't believe that, do you?"

"Why would I believe something as foolish as that?"

"I loved him… not love like Sasuke, but I did. He was like a little brother… and a best friend… I didn't show it, but whenever he said things like that, I was hanging onto every word."

"I don't care," said Itachi, wondering why she was telling him this. She wasn't in her insane state of mind she was just talking. Her simply speaking wasn't going to do anything for his study.

"That doesn't matter," Sakura informed him. "I just told you something. That means you have to tell me something."

"Why?"

"That's how it works."

"I never agreed to this."

Sakura huffed. She was telling him something so that they might be able to be at the least civil toward each other and here he was trying to ruin that. "You have to tell me something."

"Sasori won't share his peanut butter cookie recipe," said Itachi, getting up and walking out of the room.

"That doesn't count," yelled Sakura, stopping Itachi. "I don't know who Sasori is."

"Not my problem."

Sakura glared at Itachi's retreating back as he left the room, so much for being civil.

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**Three things I want to cover, 1) I'm not a babbling moron (ok, I am, but not when I'm writing a story) when I keep talking about their eyes, its for a reason, I'm not just a freak who's overly obsessed with eyes. 2) I'm sure no one else got it, but the cookie thing is a terrible and slightly perverted inside joke, I'm not craving cookies.**

**Now the third is so important, it gets its own little paragraph. I read the manga, maybe not all the fillers, but I do read it. I know that Sasori is killed. More specifically Sakura and Chiyo (his grandmother) kill him during the rescue Gaara arc. So I guess this kind of makes the story AU-ish because he's alive, but I wanted this to be Sakura's first encounter with Akatsuki. Just wanted to inform everyone that I'm not trying to make this too different from the manga, but in this case it was necessary.**

**UchihaSakura-always**

**HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm writing this with a killer hangover, so sorry if there are any mistakes. I'll try and proof read it, but the letters are kind of fuzzy.**

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Waking up was never a fun part of anyone's day. I'm sure there are people out there who love to wake up at the crack of dawn and do whatever it is that people do at that early, but Sakura wasn't one of those people. The question that plagued her mind was an interesting one, why the hell was she waking up when she had nothing to do all day? But wait, she wasn't waking up on her own. It was that door. It made the most terrible noise whenever it was opened, effectively robbing her of any further rest she could have gotten.

"I don't eat breakfast," she told the person, not bothering to see who it was. Itachi, Kisame, and the blond man were the only ones who brought her food, but the blond hardly ever did, she suspected he only did it when Itachi and Kisame were on a mission of some sort. "Why do you bother bringing it to me?"

"We're told we have to feed you," it was Kisame today. "You're not much use dead."

"Kisame-san," Sakura said, wondering how stupid this question would sound to the shark man. "When am I going to be able to leave? I mean, I've been here for at least two weeks and there's still no sign of Naruto or Tsuande-shishou. Don't they know I'm here?"

Kisame looked troubled for a moment, "They know you're here. In fact, they know that you are _here_ at this location. They've tried to attack the place and take you back by force. It didn't work though…" he trailed off, and Sakura knew she wasn't getting the whole story.

"What happened? When did they try? Did… did someone… die…?"

The shark man didn't answer, he got to his feet and walked out of the room, never looking back at the young medic.

Sakura began pacing. What good did pacing do anyway? You simply walk back and forth, accomplishing nothing but wearing yourself out. Yet people do it. But why? It wasn't calming, that was for sure. With every step Sakura took she became more and more worried. What wasn't Kisame telling her? Had someone really died? Who? This was killing her she needed to know.

She wondered if yelling for Itachi would make him come to her room and she could question him. But that didn't seem like such a good idea. She had been told that making a lot of noise was a very bad idea. So what was she supposed to do? Just wait for him to come with her lunch tray? That was too long of a wait.

What if he was killed? Kisame brought her breakfast and that seemed to be Itachi's job. Maybe he couldn't bring it because he wasn't alive anymore. That thought, strangely enough, scared Sakura. Why? She didn't know, but she was frightened. Maybe he was the only person who she had seen while in this godforsaken place that would actually have anything to do with her. Deidara had given her a clay sculpture one day… it broke though… she guessed she wasn't supposed to get hurt when it exploded… it might have been an accident…. Kisame only spoke to her when he brought her meals, and even then he never really said much. But on occasion Itachi would come into her room for no real reason, although he often stated he was told to make sure she hadn't escaped. She was pacing still, what if Itachi really had died? She doubted he was on a mission since Kisame was here. If they were then Deidara would have came instead of the shark-man, who she now thought of as fishy-chan because it amused her.

"You're going to leave a dent in the floor if you don't stop doing that."

Slight relief and then more worry washed over her. "You're alive. Who died?"

"Why do you think someone's dead?" asked Itachi.

"Kisame-san said that this place was attacked because they were trying to get me. But he wouldn't tell me who came, who managed to leave, and he refused to say what happened. If you're not dead, then someone else must be."

"I don't think you're ready to know who didn't make it. But I assure you, the Kyuubi container is safe."

Sakura decided to look on the bright side of this, because it was too depressing to look at all the possibilities. Naruto was safe that would do for now. That meant that his son wasn't fatherless, and Hinata could rest easily for now… Hinata… was she killed? Sakura convinced herself that she wouldn't be assigned to such a dangerous mission. Then there was Ino… Ino… the girl who she had tried so hard to be like, then despised and wanted to prove she was stronger than, then became friends, and now is slightly jealous, even though she'd never show it. She was with _her _teammate. Throughout all the arguing she did with her team, she managed to fall in love with one of its members. Sakura envied that. Why couldn't she have been like that? No, both Naruto and Sasuke chose a Hyuuga. Hinata had liked Naruto for awhile, with enough prodding she had managed to invite Naruto to some ramen. Naruto then made a small comment, which nearly caused Hinata to faint. "Hey, Hinata. Remember that mission we had awhile back when you made lunch and it looked like me. Well, I never thought I'd say this, but I think it might be as good, or better, than the ramen here."

A mindless comment, Sakura had thought to herself when she heard about it. Naruto nearly caused the girl to have a heart attack, and he was talking about food. It had been over a year since that happened. Hinata had managed to build a lot of confidence since then, but Sakura could still remember the day that had caused her all the pain she could have imagined. It was partially Hinata's fault. Though Sakura couldn't make herself blame the girl, it just wasn't meant to be….

"Was it a Hyuuga?" she asked Itachi, not sure exactly what she wanted to hear. "A girl."

"No," responded Itachi as he studied Sakura's face. It was amusing really, her facial expressions didn't change much, but her eyes danced with emotion. First he saw relief, he supposed it was from knowing that he loudmouth was still alive. Then a glazed over look, but not the same as when she talked about Sasuke. No, this was different, like she was reliving a memory, a happy one he supposed. Then hurt, but that didn't last to long. Her eyes showed loathing when she asked the question. Hatred that she hadn't even looked at him with. But she did look at him with hatred, but never like this. This was a mixture between sorrow and detestation.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I wanted to know if I should be depressed or not," she answered. "I'm glad Naruto's fine, I wanted to know if any of his in-laws weren't as fortunate."

"What did this Hyuuga do?" asked Itachi, watching the sorrow leave her eyes a bit, being replaced with more hate. She was going to talk, and she had a lot to say. She wasn't in her right state of mind, but this time it was anger that triggered it, not sorrow.

"Hinata… she had a sister… a younger sister, but stronger. Naruto said we should go have some ramen after a day of training. Him, Sasuke, Sai, and I. Sai didn't want to come, he said he had better things to do. So it was the three of us. The original team 7, minus Kakashi-sensei. Naruto bound ahead of us, happy as can be that he was going to lunch with us. I'm not sure if he expected it, but Hinata was there. They'd been dating for awhile, so he ran over and gave her a hug, she looked like a tomato. She was there with… _her._" Itachi noticed that she didn't say 'her' she spat it. With as much venom in her voice she could muster. She didn't want to know if this person lived, she wanted her to die.

"Hyuuga Hanabi. Second daughter of Hyuuga Hiashi, five years younger than Hinata. She was strong. Hinata used to talk to me about it. How she didn't feel like she'd ever measure up to her _younger_ sister, and she felt like she was worthless. Sasuke noticed her. Here was a female Byakugan user, who was extraordinarily strong. He's been trying to convince her father they'd make the perfect match ever since."

Itachi knew that Sakura was a very capable kounichi, who had exceptionally good chakra control. She also had super strength and a short temper. He was somewhat surprised that the Hyuuga child wasn't dead yet. There was nothing but pure fury in his captive's eyes now.

"Life goes on."

"Excuse me?"

"You're basing your entire existence on my foolish brother. There is life other than him. You're wasting your entire subsistence on being with him. You lost. Except that, and move on."

"How? I've tried and nothing has worked yet. What do you suggest I do? You're completely right, he was my life. How do you move on from that?"

"Find something else to occupy your existence with. Obsessing isn't healthy."

"You're obsessed with power, what's the difference?"

"I get power so I can stay alive. I can still get more. You've lost, it would be easier on you if you would just give up."

"I wish I could Itachi, I wish I could."

"Then just do it."

"I can't. It's not that simple."

"Why isn't it? Do you think you're weak?"

"Of course I don't!" Yelled Sakura, standing up to her full height.

"Then prove you're strong. Let go of this childish fantasy. You are capable of doing so." he walked out of the room, leaving Sakura to her thoughts.

"Thank you Itachi," she whispered. "Thank you for believing in me."

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**It kills me to write this, it really does. I've had this chapter planned out for awhile. I knew I was going to make Sasuke go after Hanabi, but I still hate it. NaruHina just isn't my thing, I'd much rather have SasuHina, but I love Naruto too much to have him be alone. Besides that, I wanted to show how much Sakura still despised anyone who would stop her in her goal to be with Sasuke (besides Itachi-kun of course) and I didn't want her hating Hinata. Still don't like doing that though….**

**Ok, I think that's enough of my mindless chatter. No, wait, two more things. If anyone _is _a SasuHina fan and is disappointed that they didn't make it in this story, I have a oneshot about them you can check out if you want. Second, if you review and ask who Ino is with, I'll ignore you.**

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**UchihaSakura-always**


	8. Chapter 8

"Sasuke… Naruto… NO… Hinata… you can't… get her away… I don't… like her… Sasuke … Naruto… don't leave me…."

She wouldn't even stop talking when she was asleep. These nightmares were becoming more frequent. When she was first captured she had one or two, but they had stopped before she had come to the Akatsuki hideout. But this past week they had occurred almost every night.

"I'm sorry… I'm trying… I can… be better… don't leave…."

"Why should I stay?" Itachi whispered. He knew this wasn't right, but her screaming woke everyone up, and that meant he had to stay in her room to wake her up before someone bashed her head in. He had leaned that if he said something quiet enough, she would think it was part of her own dream, and most times would answer him.

"Sasuke… I'm strong too… don't leave…."

"Why not," Itachi asked again.

"She doesn't like you…."

"Who?"

"Hanabi…"

So this was what it was really about. She was reliving her memories with the younger Hyuuga. Hadn't he told her to just let this go? She was losing sleep because of this pointless fantasy of her and his brother. She was starting to get on his nerves.

"I'm strong," said Sakura. She repeated that over and over again. Ever since the nightmares started, she always said she was strong, almost as if she was trying to prove it to herself. "I'm not… as weak as… you say I am…"

"Then prove it."

"I tried…"

"Try harder."

"How…?"

"You know how."

"Itachi…?"

"Hn."

"Thank you…."

Itachi was surprised at this. What had he done for her to be thanking him? He'd kidnapped her, was rude to her, played with her already unstable mind, and now was messing with her dreams. Why would she possibly be thanking him?

"What did I do?"

"I want cookies…."

If he had not been Uchiha Itachi, he would have fallen out of his chair at her amazing ability to be so depressed, and yet so child-like.

"I don't have cookies."

"Fishy-chan does…"

This was the part where Itachi walked out of the room, went into his living space, crawled into his bed, and tried to not be disturbed by what she just said.

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"I want to go home Itachi," Sakura confessed.

"I'd imagine so; this isn't exactly the place one would like to stay if they didn't have to."

"Then why do you stay here?"

"I don't have a choice."

"And why not? You chose to be part of Akatsuki, can't you choose to leave?"

Itachi let out a humorless and bitter laugh, "If only it were that simple. One cannot just up and decide to leave this organization. The only way out is death."

"Why would you join a something like that?" asked Sakura, at a loss for how anyone would condemn themselves to a life like that.

"I wanted to obtain power; this was the best way to do so."

"But there are so many other ways to do so!" exclaimed Sakura. She really was getting tired of the constant talk about power from most of the males in her life. It just wasn't right. She knew from experience, obsession wasn't a healthy thing, especially when it was near impossible to get what you're trying so hard to achieve. At least she had some way of knowing when she reached what she was striving for. In her mind, when she was with Sasuke then she would have everything she wanted, her goal would be accomplished. With Sasuke he would be satisfied when he had killed Itachi, but what about Itachi? He desired power, and there was no way to really measure that. Was it possible for him to get _enough _power? He had killed his entire family, and he was younger than a lot of them. They were a strong clan, how the hell could he still think he wasn't strong enough? "I don't understand you Itachi-san…."

"You really should decide on a suffix. Constantly switching really gets annoying."

"You don't always deserve one," Sakura explained. "Sometimes _you _are annoying, so you get a sarcastic kun, other times you haven't really done anything, so you don't get one, and, rare as it is, you do something that I think deserves respect, and you get a san… or I'm trying to have a _serious _conversation. You ruined that just now."

"My apologies," Itachi said. "What were you saying before I so rudely interrupted you?"

"I was saying how I couldn't figure you out. How do you know when you've reached your ambition of getting power? You're extremely strong, how do you know when you really are strong enough? What is strong enough for you? Are you ever going to be… I don't know… content with life?"

Itachi was a genius. Prodigy of the Uchiha clan. Simply put, he was smart enough to answer any question sent to him by a naïve girl such as Sakura. Yet, he didn't have an answer. How do you respond to that? It was a very good series of questions, something he wasn't prepared for. Did he know when he was strong enough? He never was like the other people his age. Even when he was in the Academy there was something odd about him. All he had centered his life around was being as strong and smart as possible. From an early age his father had drilled it into his mind that it was expected of him to excel in everything. 'As expected from my child.' Could you really call that praise? He was told he met expectations, not that he had made his father proud. His mother favored Sasuke anyway, so he didn't really get much from her. He didn't think he would ever be happy, but now he realized… could he even be content?

"I can't answer your question."

Sakura nodded in understanding, she hadn't expected him to answer her. She had just questioned what he thought to be his existence, you can't really answer that.

"I don't hate you Itachi-san."

"I don't hate you either Sakura."

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**Yah… so there it is… I'm not too sure what I think about this chapter yet… the beginning doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the chapter… then again, it has everything to do with it, and it needed to be said… I'm really considering deleting this one and uploading a better one.**

**Anyway, here's something I don't normally do: soundtrack to this chapter:**

**Vampire Heart- HIM**

**Perfect- Simple Plan (I know, it's like a million years old, but I found a really awesome Itachi video to it)**

**Call Me When Your Sober/Bring Me to Life- Evanescence**

**Angels/Memories/Stand My Ground/Ice Queen/See Who I am- Within Temptation (I kind of like that band…)**

**Wake me up When September Ends- Green Day (again, awesome Itachi video or I wouldn't have listened to it)**

**My Sacrifice- I forget who it's by…**

**Just Like You- Three Days Grace**

**Forsaken- Queen of the Damned**

**Tainted Love- Marilyn Manson**

**Yea… I was in a really good mood, and that kind of doesn't work for writing this story, so I listened to a ton of a depressing music (which rocks) so that I would be able to write this. It's near impossible to make an in character Itachi if you're in a super happy mood.**

**I'm babbling, so I'll shut up and end the chapter now**

**UchihaSakura-always**


	9. Chapter 9

**Ok, someone requested that I don't tear down the last chapter, so I won't. I'm back in a neutral mood right now, so this chapter should turn out better.**

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"Itachi, do you think I'm a girl?" asked Sakura, in a very curious way, almost as if she wasn't quiet sure herself.

"You are undoubtedly female," answered Itachi.

"That's not what I asked."

"I'm not sure how you want me to answer that. You are a female."

"But do you think I'm a _girl_."

"What's the difference between the two?"

"Just answer the question," snapped Sakura, her patience quickly running out.

"At your specific age I believe you have passed the title of girl."

If it had been someone else saying it, Sakura would have hugged him. He said she wasn't a girl, which in a sense meant that she wasn't a child. She had always been the little girl of team 7. The weak link in the strong chain that was Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke. Quiet frankly she was tired of it. Even after she became Tsuande's apprentice she wasn't as good as her teammates, even if she could rearrange their DNA so their toenails would grow out their eyeballs. No, she was still the little _girl _that would always need rescuing from her protectors. She could train all she wanted it wouldn't make a difference to them.

But Itachi said she wasn't a girl. That was one perk to being in the depressingly dark room that she was forbidden to leave. Then there was Itachi himself, he had managed to make her change her views on him. She never really thought of him as a bloodthirsty maniac who only cared about murdering innocent people that didn't fit everything she had heard about him. But since she had come to reside at the hideout, she had seen a different side of him. She wouldn't call it soft, no Uchiha Itachi wasn't soft in the least bit, but he seemed to take a mild interest in her. He would ask her questions, often come to speak with her, and always paid attention. She couldn't remember exactly what all of their conversations had been about, it was as if she had blacked out through half of it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that they were getting closer than when they had first met. No one could really say they were _close _to Itachi, he wasn't one to let people in, but Sakura got the feeling that she had at least made an impression on him, good or bad didn't seem to make much of a difference anymore.

Hostage or not, there were certain things she did that she was sure no one else would ever survive doing. Yelling out that he was in love with Kisame being pretty high up on the list. They had inside jokes. She doubted that Itachi had _any _jokes in the first place, so this had to signify something. She didn't know who Sasori was, but she did know that he had a wonderful peanut butter cookie recipe that he refused to share at the Monday recipe exchange. Sakura occasionally caught herself feeling somewhat sad that she would have to leave this place even though she knew she didn't belong there. This wretched place that she loathed, she was beginning to grow attached to. Why? This was a question the plagued her mind almost constantly. How could she possibly have any objections from getting the hell out of this damned place? She couldn't be growing attached to her surroundings, could she? That just was not a possibility in this situation. Could she… no, she wasn't growing to like Itachi. She wasn't. There was a difference between not wishing someone would be hit by a comet in their sleep, and liking someone.

"Itachi, why don't we get along better?"

Itachi just stared at her, and she took that as she shouldn't ask stupid questions like that again. She didn't think it was stupid when she had thought of it, it seemed like a very valid question. Why didn't she get along with him? Besides the whole 'he murdered his family and betrayed Konoha' he didn't really do all that much to her personally. He could have easily locked her in a small cell, feeding her once a day if he felt like it, and let the other Akatsuki members beat her if they didn't have anything better to do. Instead she received three meals a day (not that she ate breakfast most of the time) and had a semi comfortable bed.

"Do you still want to know?" Itachi finally asked.

Sakura felt her breath stick in her throat, was he really going to tell her? She'd had nightmares about this since she heard about it from Kisame. Who didn't make it when her friends tried to rescue her? Ino? Tenten? Sasuke? Lee? She knew Naruto was safe, and she was told that a Hyuuga girl wasn't killed, so it couldn't have been Hinata. But what about everyone else? Lee would still do a million pushups and six thousand laps around the village if she tripped within sight of him and he didn't catch her before she hit the ground. She didn't have the heart to tell him she was clumsy and had fallen on her face at least once a week. She and Ino had long since gotten over their rivalry and were now extremely close, and Tenten had learned how to put away her weapons and come and join them when they went to lunch or just hang out. Either of them would come and try to rescue her without a second thought. She was sure Sasuke wouldn't have passed up the opportunity to try and kill his older brother, so there wasn't a doubt in Sakura's mind that he helped with the mission.

So who came? Who managed to leave?

Itachi sighed deeply, "it was a long battle. And he fought bravely… but… he didn't make it. Don't be upset."

"Itachi… who?"

"It was—"

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**Who wants to kill me?**

**Send in Queen Latifah, I've got writer's block. If anyone gets that, that's good for you; I also know what movie it's on, there's no need to remind me.**

**Yea… so this chapter is more Sakura's point of view, because I've noticed the last few have been Itachi-kun's. It's a lot easier to do Sakura… I'm pretty sure I know how a female mind works, since I am one, no matter what my darling brother says**.


	10. Chapter 10

**Fanfiction is being really weird… it won't send me notifications when I got reviews, or when my favorite stories were updated… I hate it! So anyway, I figured I should try and live a little longer, so I'm updating!**

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"I'm not sure if you're ready to hear this…"

"Itachi-san, you have to tell me," said Sakura desperately. "I need to know who… who…" she couldn't bring herself to say the word.

"He fought bravely," Itachi started, trying to make up for what he was about to say that could possibly crush this girl's already shattered heart. He shouldn't really care this much, but he'd spent too much time with her not to get a little bit attached. At least to the point where he felt it hard to tell her one of her friend's died in an attempt to rescue her from her current prison. "But he is still foolish," he finished. Sakura looked confused for a moment, and then remembered what that title meant. 'My foolish little brother'. He'd refer to Sasuke like that. Sasuke… was dead? No! She refused to believe it.

"No, no, no, no," she repeated over and over again, shaking her head to add to the affect. "No. He's not… he can't be… NO." She was sobbing now, hardly breathing as the tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She continued to repeat 'no' over again, trying to convince herself more than anything else.

"He was your brother," she finally managed to choke out.

"And he made it his goal to kill me. He wasn't ready though, and he failed."

Sakura flung herself at Itachi, pounding on his chest, hitting him as hard as she could in her weakened state of mind. He let her hit him a few times before grabbing her wrists to prevent her from doing anything else. She struggled in his grasp for awhile, still crying her heart out. She eventually stopped in her attempts to break free and went limp, "I loved him, Itachi. I really did."

The word hopeless came to mind when Itachi looked at the pink haired medic, who was sobbing so hard she couldn't speak anymore. She had built her entire life around him, and he had just taken that away from her. "You said you were going to get over him," he reminded her, in hopes that she would calm down a bit.

"I was going to, but I still planned on him being alive when I did it… he was my friend, even if he was with Hanabi. Naruto, Ino, and him were my only friends, and now he's gone. He's gone forever! You killed him. I hate you." She freed her hands, but didn't move afterwards, she just stood there, not being able to do much else.

"I still don't hate you," Itachi said calmly.

"Why are you still here? Go away! I don't want to be with a murderer right now."

"You've talked to me before, and you knew I murdered a lot of people. You've known for awhile that I killed one of your friends, you just didn't know whom. Why does it make a difference now?"

"I'm tired of your mind games!" she flew at him again, trying with everything she had to hurt him. This time he caught her around her waist, and held her tightly so that she wouldn't escape and attempt to harm him again. She didn't move again, she simply sobbed into his chest. She didn't have enough energy to care about anything at the moment, all she knew was that Sasuke was gone. She needed that hug more than she knew. It didn't matter if it came from the person who had so forcefully ripped him from her, she just needed someone at the moment. She would never admit it, that was a given, as soon as she worked up the strength she'd yell at him to let go of her. But for that moment, she was simply going to cry into his supposed embrace.

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"She seems to be taking it pretty hard," Sakura heard. She was lying in her bed, and was awoken by the sounds of voices not far from her. She didn't move, nor did she open her eyes. She regulated her breathing, and made sure that it looked as though she was still asleep. If they were going to talk about her, then she wanted to know what it was about.

"What did you expect?" she was sure that was Kisame. "That she'd be over the moon that you got rid of the last of your clan?"

"She said she was ready. Turns out she wasn't."

She heard her door open, "Kisame, Leader wants to see you, yeah." Kisame grumbled under his breath and walked out of the room, leaving Itachi there alone.

"You really shouldn't listen in on other people's conversation," said Itachi after a moment of watching her pretend to sleep.

"I don't think talking about me without my knowledge is considered polite either. Didn't I tell you about proper manners already?"

"I can see your back to your sarcastic self, and just in time really."

"Just in time for what?" asked Sakura, racking her brains for any scrap of information that might lead to his answer.

"We've just received word from Konoha. They're ready to make a deal. They've set up a date when they'd like to make the negotiations, of course you'll have to go so they know you're still alive and well."

"I get to go home?"

"Only if you want to," with these parting words he left the room to leave Sakura with her thoughts. Did she want to leave? She had said before that she wanted to go home, and that would be the logical thing to do. She was a hostage that's all. Didn't she long to be able to leave the terror that was the Akatsuki lair? Then again, was it so terrible? She hadn't really had many terrible things happen. Sasuke's death was traumatizing, but he had died the way he would have wanted, in battle with his brother. The exploding clay sculpture was a little frightening, but once she had gotten over the initial shock, it was pretty funny. She had jokes with Itachi, gave Kisame a nickname, had a vacation from missions, and was starting to become happy again. It was true, she was a lot happier than the day before she was kidnapped. She was living a life where she was constantly reminded of how she wasn't up to everyone's standards, even if she had surpassed most of them. When she was home she had Sasuke's interest in Hanabi thrown in her face every day. She had to watch as all of her friends went about their lives, with their own relationships, while she was alone with nothing but work to occupy her time. Ino couldn't hang out with her as often now that she was going on dates with her boyfriend, Naruto and Sasuke were almost always at the Hyuuga mansion, Kakashi spent his time with a certain dolphin, and she didn't have very many other friends.

But she had friends. She had a life. She had a home. Konoha was where she had grown up, and she'd promised to give her life to protect it. Could she really live with herself if she gave that all up? How could she really? Her parents, friends, teachers, and her life were there, was she really going to give that up? What was she giving them up for? A selfish want to get out of missions? An S-class criminal that she joked around with? That hardly seemed like a valid reason to refuse to return to her home. When she thought about it logically, there was no doubt in her mind that she was supposed to return to Konoha.

Her mind was going a mile a minute, and she was giving herself a headache from the inner arguing. Common sense vs. Selfish desire. She was very used to this kind of battle, she had it almost every day that she saw Sasuke. Common sense stated that there was no way in hell that he would ever return her affection, but her selfish desire to be with him kept her from giving up. Now she was having the same battle over staying with his brother. It wasn't a battle she had ever thought she would be a part of. If someone had told her a month ago that she would be kidnapped by Uchiha Itachi and then debating herself on weather or not she wanted to stay with him, she would have laughed in their face and told them they were crazy. So was she crazy now? Why would anyone in their right mind not want to go back to their home? Did she have no loyalty? Or was it something else entirely? She would never admit it, but she was beginning to grow fond of Itachi. Their little talks, the teasing, the inside jokes, the deep crimson eyes that she felt she could get lost in… she was starting to like him.

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**I killed Sasuke. I should feel guilty, but I don't. I just wrote a SasuHina oneshot anyway, so I don't feel so bad. FF wouldn't let me upload any documents, so that's why this chapter is later than what I intended. Don't forget to review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**I found inspiration for this story by getting into Tsuande's mind set. So I would like to thank one of my dear friend in advanced for fixing all of my stupid mistakes because I couldn't tell what I was trying to say when I typed this. I would also like to thank everyone, I got 200 reviews for his story, which is more than I ever thought I would get. Thank you thank you thank you thank you!**

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"Why can't she come here?" Sakura asked, extremely annoyed at the thought of being blindfolded and dragged halfway through the forest.

"Because telling the Hokage where the Akatsuki head quarters is, isn't the brightest of ideas." Said Itachi calmly as he put the blind fold on the arguing girl.

"You're in a bad mood," observed Sakura. "Did something happen between you and fishy-chan? Or not happen…?"

"He's mad because he doesn't want to see you leave," Kisame answered for him, twitching at his nickname.

"I don't think so, fishy-san," Sakura argued. "I think it might have to do with the large pole he has shoved up his ass. He takes after his brother I guess."

"He's older, Sasuke takes after him."

"You're right! You're so smart fishy-san!"

"If you two are done," Itachi interrupted, not finding the conversation as fascinating or amusing as the people having it. "It's time for us to leave."

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"Is the girl alive?" Tsuande asked, making sure her voice was void of any emotion.

"Surely you don't think of me as a fool," said Itachi. "Not only did the Hokage travel here personally to check on her, but you made her your apprentice, that shows that you not only know what her name is, but also that you do care about her."

"Fine," Tsuande snapped. "Where is Sakura? Is she ok? Is she still alive? Is that what you want to hear?"

"Sakura is alive and well, in a few minutes she will walk through that door to confirm that she is in fine health.

"How do I know it's not a genjutsu?" asked the Godaime

"You don't. You'll just have to trust your instincts enough to know if it truly is your student."

"Send her in," Tsuande ordered. Itachi nodded and called for Kisame, who entered with said captive.

"Tsuande-shishou!" exclaimed Sakura, overjoyed to see her master once again. "Is Naruto ok?" she asked immediately afterwards. "Nothing happened to him right."

"Naruto is fine," Tsuande assured her student, believing full well that it was the real her.

"Take her out of the room so we can negotiate," Itachi told Kisame.

"What? Itachi that's not fair," Sakura said desperately. "I want to find out about the rest of my friends! What about Kakashi? And Ino? Hinata?"

"Kisame, get her out of here."

"Itachi!" Sakura yelled again. Her pleas were ignored as Kisame unceremoniously threw her over his shoulder and carried her out of the room.

"You know what I want in exchange for her," Itachi said calmly to Tsunade once Sakura was taken out of earshot.

"We can't give up the Kyuubi," Tsuande said weakly. "Especially not to low life's such as this organization."

"Then I guess the girl is to remain with us."

"There must be something else we can do to get her back," Tsuande said, becoming desperate, though she tried hard not to show it.

"Akatsuki has no interest in anything but the Kyuubi, if you cannot meet our demands, we will not give up the captive."

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"I want to talk to Tsuande-shishou," exclaimed Sakura as she saw Itachi exit the room.

"No."

"Please Itachi," Sakura practically begged. "I just want to know if my friend are fine. I want to know how Naruto is doing, if Hinata had her baby yet, if Ino's engaged, if they're worried about me. I don't want them to worry, I want to tell Tsuande-shishou that she has to tell them that I'm alright!" the girl was near tears. "Itachi, please. Let me, I need to speak with her. You can supervise the conversation! I won't give out any information about you or the Akatsuki that I might have discovered since I've been here. I just want to know about my friends."

"I can't let you do that." Was Itachi's heartbreaking response. "I have orders."

"Screw your damn orders! Let me talk to her!"

"I'm sorry Sakura, but I'm not allowed to let you speak with her."

Tears were flowing freely down Sakura's pale cheeks now. She dropped to her knees and sobbed into her hands, suddenly ashamed of the salty liquid falling from her eyes. Was it so much to ask to see her shishou? It wasn't that big of a request was it? She was right there! In the very next room, so close, and she couldn't even ask her if everything was all right at her home. It just wasn't fair.

"Why not?" she choked out.

"Leader has ordered us to keep you away from anyone in contact with Konoha in case you do try to give out information or receive it."

"Who cares about your fucking leader?! You killed your entire clan and that is against the laws of Konoha! You betrayed the village, what makes your damn leader any different?"

"Sakura," said Itachi in a warning tone. "We're going to go back to the head quarters now, you may tell Tsuande good bye, and that's it."

Sakura nodded and walked into the room, giving Tsuande a quick hug and saying goodbye. "Don't let them worry," she whispered in her ear as her escorts led her out of the room.

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**hehehe, I know… I know. The update is late, but I have a reason! I have recently got a case of strep throat (damn science lab partner), and it's pretty ironic. I'm sick, so I can't go to school, so I should get more computer time, yet instead I'm forbidden to get out of bed… I don't understand it. Anyway, all of this starting from Kisame taking Sakura out of the room I had to write at two in the morning otherwise mother wouldn't let me on the computer. So there probably will be mistakes I missed. Please forgive me.**

**Don't forget to review!**

**UchihaSakura-always**

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	12. Chapter 12

**Did you know it is damn near impossible to find a SasuHina story that doesn't contain NaruSaku? Not that you guys care, but I thought I would complain, and you guys will read almost anything I type… so unlike my friends… Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews… and could someone please explain to me how someone could kill me, if I already died. I don't understand it….**

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The hideout was becoming more of a prison everyday. Sakura found herself fighting claustrophobia every instant while sitting in her 'cell'. She hadn't thought of herself as a prisoner before, simply a rude sort of houseguest. Now Kisame and Deidara seemed like guards, while Itachi was a cross between a cellmate and a warden. He himself had said there was no way to leave Akatsuki, so in a way they were all prisoners. Sakura felt bad for them, she had a chance of freedom from this place of overwhelming dread, and they didn't. She wondered vaguely if other captives felt sorry for their kidnappers. However, this wasn't a normal situation. Not many people were held hostage so that a group of missing nin could get a demon fox out of their best friend, but who really knows? Itachi's entrance cut her thoughts short, he set a tray at her bedside and left, for the first time, without saying a word. Maybe it was the sense of rejection from him, maybe the situation, the homesickness, loneliness, or all of these reasons and more, but Sakura curled up into a ball and wept.

And how she hated herself for it. To think, a grown woman, the apprentice of the Hokage herself, a top medic nin, and the second strongest person in all of Konoha, was crying uncontrollably. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. And now she loathed the fact that she was doing it. She hadn't cried like this since Sasuke had left the village for the damn snake sannin, after that she had promised herself that she would no longer cry. She had to be strong. But for what? She wasn't allowed to leave this room anyway, so she didn't see a point in it. She sat up nonetheless and glared at her lunch tray, as if it had been the one that had made her shed the dreaded tears.

"Something wrong?" Kisame asked, coming to collect her lunch tray.

"Two assholes kidnapped me," Sakura replied, her companion closed his eyes for a moment in annoyance.

"They sound terrible," he responded. "You must hate them… or do you?"

"That's the weird thing. I can't make myself hate them. The blue one is fun to joke with and his sword is so cool, however much I hate its uses on me... and the other…" she trailed off.

"Is to terrible to describe huh," Kisame suggested.

"You're both right, and so wrong," Sakura sighed. "He's a terrible person who I should, and have been told to, hate. He killed his whole family, including the love of my life, but there's more to it than that… there's something about him that makes me want to talk with him, to hold a conversation, or just know something about him."

"Was it the same with his brother?" Kisame asked without much interest.

"Sasuke?" he nodded. "Sasuke was… a lot like Itachi… in some ways. They were both a mystery… and those damn looks. They're both too good looking for their own good. But no, I never really did talk with Sasuke, so I didn't have the chance to want to talk just to learn more about him."

"Sounds to me like you like Itachi more than Sasuke." And with that blunt statement, Kisame left the room with the tray.

"You're insane…" Sakura said to herself. There was no way that she could possibly have any form of affection towards the older Uchiha. _The _only_ Uchiha,_ she reminded herself. He killed Sasuke. A few days after she had told him she didn't hate him. Was that statement still true? When she learned of Sasuke's death, she had said that she hated him again, but he said that he still didn't hate her. That puzzled Sakura, why didn't he hate her? She was rude, sarcastic, made fun of him, and questioned his sexuality. She was surprised that he not only didn't hate her, but that he hadn't killed her. It wouldn't have been hard to do, they sucked her chakra every few days so that she wouldn't get strong enough to escape, but they had orders-- don't kill the prisoner.

A chilling thought occurred to Sakura, Tsuande hadn't accepted their offer. What use was she now? They couldn't trade for Naruto, but they couldn't let her go home. If they released her, it would make them seem weak. They didn't get the Kyuubi, so they just sent the hostage on her way. No one would take them seriously if they pulled a stunt like that. So what would they do with her now? She was a burden, a useless lump that would do nothing but eat their food and use their valuable time. What would happen when Kisame needed to go on an extended mission and no one was there to take her valuable chakra? The only logical thing to do would be to kill her. She looked at the door as if half expecting someone to burst though it that very moment. But the door remained closed, no one entered all day. There was no midday check up, and they had stolen her chakra yesterday. So she stayed there, not even bothering to play the music that had been retrieved for her. She just stared at the door, preparing herself for when someone did decide to enter. She'd be standing, ready to go out in a blazing glory. The Akatsuki member who came to do the job would have to call in for back up! She mentally prepared herself, if they took her, she'd take them down too.

The door creaked open and Sakura… flew under the covers, "Please don't kill me," she squeaked.

"I'm just here to bring you dinner. I didn't know we were supposed to kill you… seems like a waste, yeah."

"Deidara? Why are you bringing me dinner?"

"I was told to… yeah…"

"No, I mean, why isn't Itachi? He hasn't said a word to me all day, and Kisame took my lunch."

"He's not here, they went somewhere, just up and left without saying a word. Pretty rude, yeah. You're lucky that I remembered that you were still here, you might have missed dinner. And you've gotta be hungry, you didn't eat breakfast or lunch, yeah."

"How did you know that?" she asked, coming completely out of her blankets and beginning to eat her meal.

"I saw the trays. No one did dishes today, yeah."

"I could do them," she volunteered.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea, yeah. I don't think that we're allowed to let you out of here… then again, no one else wants to do the work around here anyway… but we weren't supposed to… we are running out of dishes though… yeah…"

"I promise I won't try to escape! I haven't even attempted to since I got here, don't you think I've earned that much trust yet? Besides, where would I go? I don't know the exact location. And I promise I won't leave the kitchen, you can have someone watch over me. Please, I just want out of this room!"

"I guess there wouldn't be a problem with it… as long as you're closely guarded…. Come on then, you can do them now before Itachi and Kisame get back."

Sakura nodded and got off the bed, grabbing her now empty plate and followed Deidara out of her room. He went down a maze of hallways that she would never be able to go down without getting lost. He finally came to a door, and pushing it open revealed what looked like the grave yard for take out containers and dirty dishes.

"I'll need garbage sacks, and you'll either have to take them out when they get full, or get someone else to do it." Deidara nodded and went out into the hall as Sakura observed her heavy workload. He returned a short while later, handing her the requested item, and grabbed a chair as she started throwing away the empty containers.

_So this is what I'm reduced to, _Sakura thought bitterly. _The Akatsuki kitchen bitch. _She threw the containers away a little harder than what was needed. There was no reason she should still be there. She shouldn't have entered that dreaded place at all. She wanted to be at the hospital, training, or at the ramen stand with Naruto, _anything _to get her away from her prison.

"That's a nice look for her, don't you think?" a voice asked.

"Deidara, why is she out of her room?" a second voice demanded.

"She… wanted to do the dishes… yeah." He sounded nervous, Sakura felt sorry for him.

"Fishy-chan, Itachi-kun! How was your trip? Did you pack enough clothes? My, my, you're looking thin. Not you fishy-chan, you're too plump." Her false cheery voice was missing its normal tone. Itachi could tell she was simply doing this to keep from bloodshed between the members.

"I'm perfectly ok with her cleaning up this mess," Kisame added. "And I'm not plump."

"Do you want me to finish, or are you going to make me go back in my room?" Sakura asked Itachi in a defeated tone.

"I'll let you finish," he answered, feeling slightly uneasy. Something wasn't right with her. The teasing seemed forced and she gave up too easily. There was definitely something wrong here.

"Did Deidara do something?" asked Kisame. It seemed he had picked up on Sakura's peculiar attitude as well.

"No, he didn't," Sakura assured him, reminded of a blue and fishlike mother hen.

"Maybe she's PMSing, yeah."

"I take that back. Kill him."

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It took most of the day for Sakura to finish her self-imposed task. Deidara, Kisame, and Itachi took turns keeping an eye on her, though she pointed out she wouldn't be able to make it out of the maze that the hideout consisted of, let alone find her way back to Konoha. Still, they stayed there, sitting in that chair that seemed to be conjured out of thin air, either sharpening weapons, eating, or making small statues.

It was Itachi's shift to watch her when she finished the dishes. "Do you still want us to kill Deidara for you?" he asked, before going back to painting his nails.

Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment, before poking her head out the door to see the blond frozen to the spot. "Should I let them kill you?" she asked him.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, yeah."

"He said yeah," said she shrugging her shoulders as she dried her hands on a dishtowel. "I would hate to go against his wish. Especially his last one."

Itachi nodded and pulled out a shuriken, aiming it at the now sweating and sputtering Deidara. He lightly tossed it to him, "Does that seem sharp enough?" he asked casually.

"Yeah."

Sakura laughed and followed Itachi as he made his way back to her room. "Why did you want to do the dishes?" he finally asked when she was safely inside her room, and stretched out on her bed.

"I've got cabin fever, it's burning in my brain. I've got cabin fever, it's driving me insane," she recited in monotone. "I've got cabin fever I'm flipping my bandana, been at sea so long that we—I have simply gone bananas." Itachi responded with a look that might have been disturbed, confused, amused, or anything else that ended with 'ed', but his face was void of much emotion, so it was hard to tell what he was thinking.

"I just needed to get out of this room," she said with a sigh in her voice. "I couldn't stand being cooped up in here all the time. The bathroom's even connected to this room, so I didn't even know what the hallway looked like. I just needed… something different. And… I wanted to feel useful." She looked up at him, "if I'm no use as a hostage, then what's the point of keeping me alive? Tsuande-shishou couldn't trade me for Naruto, now I'm just taking up space… and you no longer have a reason not to… kill me…"

She rolled over so she was now facing the bland wall that her uncomfortable bed was pushed against. She was back at square one, the weak, useless little girl that needed someone to rescue her. She hated that feeling, but for the moment, it was what she was left with.

"We're not going to kill you."

"You said you would," she reminded him. She felt her feet dip slightly indicating that he had taken a seat at the end of her bed. She knew looking at him was a bad idea, but she did anyway. It was hard to look away from those crimson eyes they were so… so… she couldn't find the words to describe it. It was as if she was drowning in them, yet she couldn't run out of oxygen. She was in too deep to ever be allowed to leave, in every sense of the situation. She couldn't leave the hideout, for she was now a failed hostage, but there was something else. She knew too much about him, spent too much time with him, she would never be able to forget him, and she was starting to be ok with it. She didn't stop looking at those shining red orbs, but he wasn't looking away either.

"I changed my mind," was his reply after what seemed like an eternity of simply looking at each other, and with that, he left.

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**Longest. Chapter. Ever. I hope you're happy. Can anyone guess why Deidara was in this chapter so much? Nope, no guesses… well I guess I'll tell you! There are about three reasons actually.**

**One being that a friend of mine (who wants to kill me I swear) is a major Deidara fangirl, she even adds 'yeah' to the ends of all her sentences, but she hates ItaSaku, so I added him because I felt the need to piss her off. Which isn't very nice, especially since I model Sakura after her, but if she gets to tease me, I'll do the same thing to her. It's not like she'll read this anyway….**

**Two, another reviewer of mine likes him, so there he is. Three, I'm the authoress. I can do whatever I want.**


	13. Final Chapter

**Alerts weren't working for awhile, so I didn't post this chapter because it seemed like a waste if no one would notice it was updated anyway.**

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Explosions. Not exactly something that's pleasant to wake up to. _I don't care how artistic it is; it's way too early for this._ Itachi thought, not taking the situation all that seriously. Deidara's room often had explosions coming from it, _this was probably some kind of punishment for what Sakura and I said to him yesterday._ There was another loud bang and Itachi groaned to himself. Now there was no way he'd get back to sleep. He got up slowly and got dressed, ready to go torture the blond man for disturbing his sleep.

He stepped out of the hallway and was faced with another surprise, mud. Now why would there be mud in the hallway? All of the Akatsuki members were told to take off their shoes before entering, and Sakura wasn't allowed outside. So how did the lumps of dirt get into the building?

_Two inconsiderate people it seems, _he thought to himself. First getting woke up, and now someone tracking mud through the hideout. He walked down the direction the tracks followed, deciding to have whoever it was that made the mess clean it up before he got his revenge. However his attention was stolen from thoughts of inflicting pain when he realized what was so peculiar about these footprints. They weren't going to one specific place; they were going everywhere, almost, as if… the person was lost. He quickened his pace. Speeding down the hallway as stealthily as possible, he began lightly knocking on the doors to rooms he knew someone resided in. Kisame was already opening his when Itachi lifted his hand to bang against the entrance.

"What's going on?" the blue man asked.

"There are intruders."

"But… how… why…?"

"I don't think they took kindly to us taking a certain kunoichi."

"So much for a secret hideout," Kisame muttered as the two of them went ran down the hallway.

A thought occurred to Itachi, if anyone was going to take back their hostage, then that meant they were a skilled ninja. _It's too easy. _"I'll go to Sakura's room, you follow the footprints," Itachi ordered. "If they find her before we get there, we've got nothing to trade."

And so they split up, Kisame running quickly down the path so clearly marked, and Itachi creeping silently, yet at a sickeningly fast pace down the hallway. If someone managed not only to find the hideout, but break into it too, then they would have to be a ninja, no ninja was stupid enough to leave such a clear path of destruction. They were trying to lead them in the wrong direction long enough to find Sakura. Did they not realize whom they were up against? It didn't take long for Itachi to get to his captive's room. He found the pink haired maiden still asleep, the only visible part of her was her feet sticking out from the many blankets she always slept with. Itachi would never understand why she got cold so easily. She stirred in her sleep, seemingly sensing the presence in her room.

"Itachi?" she asked, not yet fully awake. "What's going on?"

"Nothing important," he said, hoping she'd simply drift back into unconsciousness and wouldn't be a bother in the fight he could already sense was coming. But those emerald eyes didn't close, instead widened more.

"You wouldn't be in my room for no reason. What's going on?" Another explosion was heard. Sakura didn't miss a beat, "We're under attack."

Itachi nodded, and hushed her. If she really was the target, it would be in his best interest to keep her quiet until the battle was over.

"I won't make a peep, just please, don't let Naruto-kun… join Sasuke."

Itachi noted the addition of the honorific, but didn't do anything to acknowledge he'd heard her. But Sakura could tell, she noticed that his blood red eyes widened ever so lightly. In the time she knew him, that was his sign of showing that he had heard what you had said. It was the only indication, and most would miss it, but it was there. She didn't fool herself into believing that hearing her and agreeing to her proposal was the same thing.

There was a crash that didn't sound to far from the room they were in. "Naruto, keep it down!" someone hissed. They were standing right outside the door.

"Shikamaru," Sakura breathed. "Itachi, get away from the door, there's a shadow in here."

Itachi gave her a look that could have been confusion, and she tried to explain silently. She was loyal to her village, and if the opportunity came up, she'd leave with them. But if Itachi was caught in Shikamaru's shadow attacks, then he'd be a dead man. Naruto and Shikamaru wouldn't be alone. She'd leave with them, that didn't mean that she'd endure the sight of watching Itachi die.

The door was broke down, and Shikamaru's attack shot strait out, expecting someone to be there. Naruto's head entered the room, "Sakura-chan!"

"Naruto! Stay back! He's here!"

"Who," Naruto was already halfway into the room before Shikamaru pulled him back.

"We meet again," said Itachi, his voice calm and slow.

"We've found her," Shikamaru said into a communicator, while Naruto glared down the tall figure in front of him.

"Who came with you," Sakura said, slowly inching to the end of her bed closest to the door, giving Itachi a meaningful look when her back was turned to her friends. She was going to get them out of this; no one was going to die today. She wasn't sure of her plan yet, but she knew it was up to her. No matter what form of bond she and Itachi had managed to establish, Naruto was still his target, and if this wasn't done carefully, a bloodbath would follow.

"Kakashi, Ino, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and some ANBU," Shikamaru answered.

"And Sasuke-kun? Shouldn't he be here?"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto's voice had a growl in it that Sakura was sure came from the demon sealed inside him. "He… he…" he was shaking with both grief and rage as he glared at Itachi with more hate in his eyes then Sakura had ever seen before.

"You didn't hear the news?" asked Shikamaru.

"You didn't even tell her!" Naruto flared, barely refraining from launching at Itachi's neck.

"Tell me what?" Sakura's voice was filled with as much desperation as she could fit into it, which wasn't hard because the current situation had her just as worried as she had first heard of her teammate's death.

"Sakura?"

"Ino! Ino what's going on? Why isn't Sasuke-kun here?"

"He was killed," Ino responded, tears welling in her eyes. "By… the one he swore to destroy…"

Sakura burst into tears and flung herself around Naruto, sobbing into his shoulder, hoping against hope that he would be more concerned with comforting her then his revenge for his lost friend.

"I know Sakura-chan, I know," Naruto whispered into the distraught girl's ear before nodding to Shikamaru to capture Itachi.

"We're going to make you pay for what you did," Tenten hissed, one hand holding a kunai at the ready, the other resting on Sakura's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Tie him up, I can't hold him very long," Shikamaru said as Neji and Kakashi immediately followed his orders. The chakra strings were strong, and Itachi couldn't think of anyway of getting out of this without a huge distraction, he for the first time he could remember, placed his trust in the hands of someone else. Someone who was crying over the news of a death that she already knew about.

"What should we do with him now?" Kakashi asked. "Taking him back to Konoha is too dangerous; we should just kill him here."

"With pleasure," Naruto growled.

"Wait! I want to," Sakura said, wiping the tears off her face.

"Sakura, you shouldn't," Ino said reasonably. "You're too emotional right now."

"He's made my life a living hell since I was taken! And he killed… killed… I'LL NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN! I'll never see Sasuke-kun, and I loved him more than any of you. I want to finish his goal. I want to be the one. Me. I deserve that much."

"Sakura-san," Lee interjected. "You don't have enough chakra to do much harm."

"I do," she insisted. "Today was the day they were supposed to drain me of it; I've got five days worth. I can kill him. I want to. I need to."

"We'll leave you to it," Kakashi said, admiring how well his only female student had matured over the years.

"Come on," Ino said, pulling Naruto back. "We _don't _want to see this."

Sakura glared at the tied up man as everyone slowly exited the room, leaving her to her self-imposed task. She waited until she was sure the door was shut before walking over to the last Uchiha. "Itachi…" she muttered, fresh tears threatening to fall. "If… if it was a different time, a different place, different circumstances, could you have ever loved me?"

"Dwelling on what ifs will only weaken you," was his response. Sakura stared into his deep crimson eyes, realizing that this was the last time she would ever lay eyes on their beauty again. She searched them for something, anything, to give her even the slightest idea of what was going on in his mind at that moment.

"Please, I need a strait answer."

"I've told you, give up on Sasuke. You didn't, but you're improving. Now it's time for you to give up on your foolish fantasy that involves us and a happily ever after. You know that's never going to be a possibility no matter how much time you waste dreaming about it."

"I don't care about happily ever after, I just want to know. _Could _you have _ever _loved me?"

"Does it matter? You have to kill me now."

"But I don't. I know where to apply enough chakra to knock you out for a few hours, and afterwards you'll be fine."

"Then do that now, they'll know something's wrong if you waste anymore time."

"Itachi… I'll never forget you. And I'm starting to remember, what I talked about when I wasn't myself. I'll remember it all soon, and I'll always know," the tears were flowing freely now, "that you didn't use it against me. On some level, you cared for me."

"Then remember what I said, I don't hate you, and I don't think I can. Now, goodbye, Sakura."

"Goodbye, Itachi-kun." And with that, her chakra filled fist made contact with his heart, and for now, it stopped beating. She bent over and gently kissed his cheek, loving the soft feel of it against her chapped lips. She never would have suspected that Itachi's skin would be so soft to the touch, nor would she have thought that she would ever know that about him. She gently brushed her fingers over his now closed Sharingan eyes, wishing she could see them one last time.

She turned and left the room, not looking back for fear that she wouldn't be able to keep going. She knocked on the door with a shaking hand, waiting for someone to open it so she would be able to leave the place she had once thought of as a prison.

"Are you ok?" she heard someone ask, but didn't bother to try to figure who's voice it was. It was so long since she'd heard their voices she had forgot what they sounded like.

Ino's laid a hand on one shoulder as Naruto put his on her other, and they silently made their way out of the hideout. "Well, there's one less Akatsuki member we have to worry about," said Kakashi.

"Only one?" asked Sakura, her voice shaky. "You guys didn't get any others?"

"Didn't see any, none of them fell into our traps, but we didn't wait to see. We heard you were found, so we came to get you immediately," he explained. She nodded in understanding and they continued walking, Sakura didn't have strength, emotional or physical, enough to start tree hopping just yet. They stepped out into a small clearing and the Sakura blinked a few times, not used to sunlight yet. During her blinking Naruto made an interesting observation.

"Sakura-chan, you're eyes look different."

"He's right," Ino agreed. "They're… I don't know… brighter almost…."

"Like when we were younger, and you were happier," Naruto supplied.

"That's strange," Sakura said, fingering the area below her eyes as if that would help her see them better.

"They're right," Neji said. "They don't look as dull anymore."

"I guess I'm just so happy to see you all again, and get to go home," she responded.

"And put this whole nightmare behind you," Tenten said with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah… the nightmare… it's over… I never have to see them again." Even though she knew that not saying those would look suspicious, it hurt to say them. _Itachi, Kisame and even Deidara, I'm going to miss you guys. Maybe when we meet again, we'll be on the same side. Maybe in another life, we'll all be able to live in harmony. But I won't forget, no matter what Itachi says. I'll always remember, and hold onto that hope. You might have had selfish intentions, and still plan to use my best friend, but in the end, I'm glad that I got to spend time with you. Even if I was, a hostage. _

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**Thank you everyone who read the story, and an extra thank you to those who reviewed. I know this chapter seemed rushed, but it's intended to be that way. Events happening so fast that it it's hard to tell where one ends and the next begins. So yes, Sakura's going home and as far as she knows everyone made it out alive. I'm not planning on writing a sequel, so don't count on it, but there's still a chance, and I'll write other stories. Epilogue _might _be included, but again, I'm not sure yet.**

**UchihaSakura-always**


	14. Sequel

Hi guys! It's come to my attention that not everybody is aware that the sequel to this story is out. So for those of you that are still in the dark, _Pushed too Far _is out, and it's the sequel but its not necessary to read it if you like how _Hostage _ended.


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